12 things you didn’t know about Sziget Festival

Now that Sziget Festival has been going on for a while, we thought we’d share a few interesting facts about the most famous Hungarian festival. The following bullet points are based on a quiz by magyarorszagkul.nlcafe.hu.

• The Sziget story started in 1993, with the Diáksziget (Student Island) Festival. In 1994 it was sub-headed Eurowoodstock, and it was called Pepsi Sziget between 1996 and 2001. It is called Sziget Festival since 2002.
• In 1993, a daily ticket cost only 300 forints (~EUR 1), which sounds crazy considering that today even a cup of beer is more expensive.
• In 2011, Sziget was chosen as the best European festival at a poll organised by Yourope (European Festival Federation) and Virtual Festivals Europe.
• To ensure the peace of people living nearby the festival venue, the outdoor concerts must end by 11 pm. Concerts after that are held in special soundproof tents.
• The iconic K Bridge leading to the festival was built in 1955. It originally led to the shipyard and the headquarters of the bridge building company.

Photo: www.facebook.com/SzigetFestivalOfficial

• The organisers rejected a certain performer in 2008, not knowing that she would become a huge star one year later. She was Lady Gaga, who was offered to perform by an agency for 30 thousand euros.
• The event was chosen as the Artists’ Favourite Festival at the European Festival Awards last year.
• The festival already had 419 performing bands in 2000, you can imagine how much this number has grown since then.
• When it comes to the nationality of the performers, you might think that most of them came from the USA, but the truth is that most bands and singers come from the United Kingdom.
• Speaking about nationalities, most foreign visitors come from the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, the UK and France.

Photo: www.facebook.com/SzigetFestivalOfficial

• Someone once turned in 1600 euros at the lost property office.
• The lead singer of Motörhead, Lemmy Kilmister lost his passport at the festival in 1997.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/SzigetFestivalOfficial

ce: ZsK

Source: http://magyarorszagkul.nlcafe.hu/